


Your Hero

by wanderer765



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-29
Updated: 2016-05-31
Packaged: 2018-05-17 01:50:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5849269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderer765/pseuds/wanderer765
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I feel like there's more to the story, that maybe this guy isn't the hero that you think he is...the hero that you paint him to be." </p><p>Iris sank in her seat. Talk about a conflict of interest</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Hey you." 

Iris was beaming as she walked into Barry's lab. He turned towards her and couldn't help but stare. She wore a short, black leather skirt with knee high boots and a tight white blouse tucked in to accentuate her tiny waist. She leaned over him and kissed him slow and lazy. She started to pull away and Barry grabbed her waist, hard, not wanting the moment to be over just yet as he kissed her with more voracity. 

"Mmmm," she moaned in approval. She took a seat on his lap as her fingers played in his hair. 

"How are you?" she asked.

"Me? Oh, well I mean this sweet, hot woman just walked into my lab and started making out with me. So I'd say great. Ya I'm great." 

She rolled her eyes and gave him a peck on his lips.

"Oh my sweet, sweet Bear, you are such a dork."

"Yes but you love me."

"With all my heart." She smiled and made her way off of his lap. 

"So. The main reason I'm here is because I wanted to tell you in person that I can't make dinner tonight. My new editor is wanting me to catch him up on some leads, so we were going to take to the streets tonight. Can we reschedule?"

She could see the disappointment in his face and it broke her heart. They hadn't had much real time together since becoming a couple. There was always something coming up- mostly on his end. The Flash was needed most nights of the week. She understood though and never made him feel bad about rushing out. She loved her hero and knew that being in a relationship with him meant sharing him with the residents of Central City. 

"I guess it's fine..." he said as he turned back to his computer. 

Iris looked away, visibly irritated. 

"Ok...look I get that it sucks Barry but this is my job. How many times have we had to reschedule or cancel because of yours? And I've never once complained. Why can't you just be supportive instead of making me feel bad?"

She had him there. He bit his lip and stood up, placing his hands on her hips.

"I'm sorry babe, I just miss you and I was really looking forward to spending some quality time with you. I get it though, I do. I know how important it is to you to show your new boss what you're capable of. I'm sorry for being selfish." 

He widened his stance a bit so that he was eye level with her. 

"I love you," he said with a puppy dog look on his face. 

Iris rested her hands on his chest. 

"I know you do and I miss you too. I'll make it up to you, promise." 

She hugged him and kissed him and told him she would see him soon. 

*

Later that evening Iris met up with her new boss. He was a young man whose list of accomplishments were impressive if not a little intimidating to Iris. She was anxious to learn from him and show him how dedicated and committed she was to her job. 

"Hey Mr. Evans," Iris said as she opened his car door and sat down. 

"Iris, like I've said before, please just call me Scott."

She smiled, a little embarrassed. 

"You got it, Scott. So uhh, what's the plan? You didn't actually tell me what leads you were wanting to follow up on."

Scott nodded and played with the steering wheel. 

"Well...the Flash. I've read everything you've ever written about the guy and I don't buy it. To get right to the point, it feels like you're writing with rose colored glasses on. I feel like there's more to the story, that maybe this guy isn't the hero that you think he is...the hero that you paint him to be." 

Iris sank in her seat. Talk about a conflict of interest. 

"Is that right...so what exactly makes you think he's not a hero?" she questioned him with arms crossed. 

"You're already on the defensive and we've barely scratched the surface Iris. If you want to be taken seriously as a reporter, which I think you do, you have to be willing to see things from every angle. I think you've been so focused on giving people hope, that you're missing half the story. There have been loads of reports of this Scarlet Speedster wreaking havoc, hurting people, yet you seem to ignore all that. There's a huge story here if you're willing to open your eyes and be honest with yourself."

Iris couldn't believe what she was hearing. If he only knew how wrong he was. What was she supposed to do? If she protested too much he would get suspicious. She was at a loss. 

"Well what exactly are you suggesting I do?" She said bringing her arms down to rest on her lap.

"WE. I think WE should tackle this together. That way I can make sure your being as unbiased as possible. I don't know, I figured we could ask around, follow up on some of the negative things people have seen or heard. See if we can follow him or catch him in the act. How do you usually get your stories on him?" 

"Can I ask why you're so interested in this? Why can't you just accept that there's someone who wants to help and do good in this city? Why is that such a hard thing for you to believe?"

"I'm giving you an assignment Iris, a pretty huge one that could really get your name out there. I'm telling you there's more to this story and I'm asking you to trust me, as your boss and as someone who's been doing this a lot longer than you."

Iris stared blankly ahead, a million thoughts racing through her head. She didn't like the way he was pursuing this. How was she supposed to tell Barry? Why did she have to start that stupid blog in the first place. He was right when he said it would eventually get her in trouble. 

"Alright. How about we scratch our man hunt tonight and you take the night to gather your thoughts and we can reconvene tomorrow at work. Maybe make an outline on where we should start and where we should be looking. Sound good?"

Iris opened the car door and stepped out. 

"Sure thing Scott," she said as she leaned into the car. "I guess I'll see you in the morning."

She slammed the door shut and made her way to her and Barry's apartment. This was not going to be a fun conversation.


	2. Telling Him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iris tells Barry about her meeting with Scott.

Iris hesitated to turn the key as she stood outside the apartment she shared with Barry. She was trying to decide how she should approach the subject once he inevitably asked her how her meeting with Scott went. She let out a sigh and decided she would just wing it. She was usually pretty quick on her feet. She would just figure it out as she went she surmised.

Barry was sitting on their couch, beer in hand, as he watched some sporting event on the television.

He nodded at her as he took a swig of his beer.

"You're home much earlier than I was expecting."

Iris raised her eyebrows and let out another sigh as she took off her boots.

"Yup."

She walked over to him and bent down to offer a quick kiss before making her way into the kitchen. Barry turned to watch her, picking up that there was some tension in the air.

Iris took a wine glass out of the cupboard and poured herself a rather large helping of Merlot, her favorite. She leaned against the island as she heard Barry walking in from the living room.

"Everything ok...babe?" he asked as he came to stand beside her.

"Fine."

She guzzled a fair chunk of the wine in her glass before grabbing the bottle to pour some more. Her answers were much shorter and snappier than she had planned them to be. He looked at her with a worried look and she softened a bit.

"I guess my new editor is going to be more to handle than I thought. But I'll work it out."

"Did he say something to upset you? You've nearly finished a half a bottle of wine in the two minutes since you've been home."

She looked up at him sheepishly, as she swallowed another gulp of her wine.

"...maybe."

"Iris. You can tell me anything, if you don't know that by now then..."

"He wants us to investigate the Flash together and prove that he's not the great hero I've been painting him out to be."

She blurted it out and then hid her face in her hands.

"It's going to be such a mess. He thinks I'm biased. He says that I'm ignoring half the story. That there's all these reports about a speedster running around wreaking havoc and that I choose to ignore those leads and only focus on the good. I don't know how I'm supposed to do this without A. being completely biased B. ripping this guy's head off for wanting to ruin your good name and C. not ruin my own career by refusing to write the piece."

  
Barry took a deep breath in and exhaled a deep breath out, while rubbing the back of his head with his hand.

"Ok."

"Ok?" Iris questioned.

"Yeah, ok."

"What is 'ok' supposed to mean Bear?"

"It means I think you should write the stupid article and I'll just keep doing what I've been doing. My actions will prove him wrong. None of these supposed leads are going to give him what he's looking for, so let him chase after them."

"You realize this could all go terribly wrong, right? He's gonna want me to write things that are going to hurt you Barry, things that could turn the public against you."

"I trust you Iris, completely. I know you won't mean any of it. And as far as the public goes? They'll see the article for what it is. They know me and what I stand for. I'm really not worried about it, so please relax a little babe."

He stood behind her and rubbed her shoulders, trying to release some of the tension she was holding in. She melted under his touch.

"I am not looking forward to this at all, but if you're sure about it."

"Obviously it's a shitty situation, but it doesn't look like we really have a choice. I understand with your job that things like this can and will come up. We just have to be sure we talk about it and deal with things together the best we can."

She turned around to face him and rested her head on his chest, as her hands wrapped around his torso.

"Thanks for not freaking out. We'll just have to find a way to make him believe in you and see you for the amazing hero that you are."

He squeezed her tightly. He was more upset about this Scott Evans than he was letting on, but it wasn't something he wanted to burden her with. It wasn't her fault the guy was an asshole.

"How about you finish that wine while I draw you a bath, try and get you to relax a little bit."

"Hmmm how about you change the 'I draw you a bath' to 'I draw US a bath' and you're on Allen."

She raised her eyebrows at him and leaned in for a kiss.

"As you wish, West."

Iris laughed as she sipped some more wine. Her phone lit up with a text from Scott and she rolled her eyes.

Scott: I hope you've given this some serious thought and have realized what a great opportunity this article could be for you. I look forward to us working together on this. See you in the morning, Scott

Iris really didn't want to think about all the headaches and arguments this whole situation was sure to bring. She locked her phone and made her way to their bathroom, trying to push aside the worries of tomorrow.


	3. Man in Red

Iris woke with a headache, a reminder of all the wine she drank last night. She rolled over to find the spot next to her empty and frowned.

She slowly climbed out of bed and made her way to the kitchen. Sitting on the island was an Americano from Jitter's, a plate with two cronuts, and a note.

**Good morning beautiful, I hope today isn't too stressful for you. Here are two of your favorite things to help your day start out right.**  
**Love, B**

She smiled as she bit into her favorite pastry and made her way back to their bedroom to get dressed for the day.

 

               --------------------- 

 

  
CCPN was already bustling when she opened the doors. Linda filled her in right away, saying that apparently there had been a body found by the bay early this morning by a runner. No one quite knew yet if foul play was at hand.

"West!"

Iris put her bag down and was in the middle of taking off her jacket when she heard Scott call out to her.

"Keep your jacket on. You and I are going down to the bay. I want to get a head start on this, interview the runner and see what information we can get from the police. Word on the street is she may have seen the Flash before she ran over and found the body."

Iris rolled her eyes. It was too early for this to be starting already and her head hadn't stopped pounding from last nights wine.

She took a deep breathe and lifted her jacket back on over her shoulders. Scott walked over to her and smiled.

"I'll drive."

He turned and made his way to the door. Iris sent Barry a quick text while following behind him.

**Just FYI, I'm heading to the crime scene with Scott right now. Apparently you were already there this morning? Anyway, I'll see you soon.**

 

              ---------------------

 

  
Scott and Iris arrived at the scene and she scanned the area for her dad and Barry. She saw Joe standing off to the side in the distance.

"Scott, I'll be right back. I'm gonna go talk to my dad for a minute."

"Ok. Make sure you take notes on. I'll see what I can get from the witness."

She nodded her head and walked towards her father.

"Hey baby girl. What are you doing here?"

"My new editor asked me to come down here with him and gather info on the crime scene."

Joe looked behind her and spotted Scott.

"So that's the famous Scott Evans huh? Barry filled me in on a little bit this morning. He sounds...fun."

Iris looked over at Barry, crouched down taking soil samples.

"He told you?"

Joe shrugged his shoulders.

"He filled me in at the station this morning before we came here. He was a little concerned because of the situation."

Iris looked at him confused.

"Situation?"

Joe took her by the arm, moving them further away from the crowd.

"Well the person who did this, the meta who did this, can apparently make himself invisible. Cisco alerted Barry about some weird activity down town just before dawn and it led him here, but it was already too late. The meta had already killed the victim."

"And let me guess, the runner could only see Barry and not the meta because he had turned himself invisible?"

Joe nodded at her.

"I'm sure your editor will eat that up."

Just then they were interrupted.

"Hey."

They both looked in front of them and saw Barry walking towards them.

"Joe, I need you over here." Captain Singh said, waving Joe over to him.

Joe rubbed her arm before leaving her and Barry.

"So, was the nice stuff you left for me this morning supposed to a peace offering?"

Barry took off his gloves and gave her a confused look.

"Why didn't you fill me in on what happened this morning? How am I supposed to stay ahead of this and try to keep control of this situation if you don't let me know what's going on?"

Barry sighed.

"I'm sorry Iris but it's been a little hectic this morning. The last thing on my mind was worrying about what your boss may or may not assume about my being here this morning."

"Well apparently you _were_ worried because you had time to fill my dad in."

"Allen!" Captain Singh yelled at Barry.

"Look Iris, I gotta go."

She grabbed onto his arm.

"Wait, do you or Cisco have any leads on who the meta was?"

"I only got a quick look at his face. I'll have to wait and see what I find when I run DNA tests. Can we talk about this at home later?"

He kissed her on the cheek before making his way to Singh.

Iris walked over to where Scott was interviewing the runner.

"Kelly, this is one of my journalists Iris West. She will be helping me write the article today about what you've told me."

The lady held her hand out to Iris.

"Nice to meet you," Iris said as she shook the ladies hand.

"So I think we have all we need for right now. If we have follow up questions or you think of anything else we'll give you a call and vice versa. Thanks for your time."

Iris looked back at Barry who was watching her and rubbing the back of his neck. He gave her a slight smile and wave, but she didn't respond.

"She was pretty shaken up. I hate to say I told you so, but this doesn't look good for your friend in red."

Iris let out a deep breath and turned her attention back to Scott, dreading the day ahead.

"Ya," she said quietly.

 

                 ------------------

 

They made it back to CCPN by late morning and were going over Scott's notes together.

"Ok. So it says here that she saw him standing in the distance and he sped off as soon as he saw her looking at him?" Iris questioned.

"Yes, and when she ran over to where he was standing she found the body. We don't have confirmation on the victim yet, but I have some sources saying that it was a man named Charles Walker, a low level crook. Maybe Flash got wind of some of the illegal things he was going and decided to take matters into his own hands?"

Iris couldn't believe what she was hearing and it showed all over her face.

"Why would the Flash go after some no name thug when there are well known criminals out there, doing worse things than this guy was doing? It doesn't add up."

"To send a message of course. He's a vigilante Iris, trying to clean up the streets on his terms and by any means necessary. You've seen the collateral damage his crusades have caused these past few years."

Iris rubbed her temples.

"But there's no proof he's ever gone after non meta-humans or killed anyone. Do they think this guy was one or...?"

"We have an eye witness who saw him standing over a dead body before fleeing the scene and you still want to believe this guy is all good?"

She could see this conversation wasn't going to go anywhere.

"I have other stories I need to tend to so you're on your own with this one. I'd like a one page write up on this by 4pm today."

She hated this. She hated that was she fighting with Barry. She hated that she knew that this would hurt him and she had no choice but to write it. She wanted nothing more than to go over to Star labs and get their side of the story about what happened this morning, but there was no time.

She grabbed her notes and headed to her desk to start typing.

 

               ---------------------

 

It was around 10pm when Barry finally came home. He looked exhausted. Iris was sitting on the couch with her knees pressed to her chest, a glass of wine in hand.

"The Man in Red: Can He Be Trusted? By Iris West."

She looked up at him and bit the inside of her lip.

"Hello to you too," Iris said, a slight annoyance in her tone.

"Did you come up with that title or did he come up with it?"

"Does it really matter?...And come on Bear, you said you wouldn't be mad at me about this. It's been a really shitty day I don't...."

She looked down at her glass and swooshed her wine around. Barry walked over and kneeled in front of her. He let out a sigh.

"I'm sorry babe. I know how hard it must've been for you to have to write that."

He rubbed his hands up and down the sides of her legs.

"And I'm sorry if it upset you that I talked to your dad about Scott. Our conversation last night bothered me more than I wanted to admit and I didn't want you to stress about it."

She reached down and stroked his cheek with her hand.

"I know. Me too. Are we ok?"

Barry tilted his head to the side and moved so he was sitting beside her.

"Of course we're ok. Things are complicated right now, but we're on the same side here. I trust you and I love you and no amount of crap that jerk makes you write is ever going to change that. Ok?"

She nodded her head and leaned over to kiss him.

"Did you guys figure out who the meta was?"

"Mmhmm. Arthur Light. We still don't know why he killed that man, we're assuming some kind of deal gone bad? Anyway, I'm headed out in a minute to try and track him down. We think we figured out a way I can stop him."

"Do I want to know what he's capable of doing?"

"No, probably not. I'll be fine though...don't wait up for me."

He kissed her and went to get up and grab a quick bite, but Iris held on to him and wouldn't let go. She yawned.

"Wait. Let me have you for just a moment more."

She kissed him again and he wrapped her in his arms. He could feel her body relax and her breathing slow down. He stayed with her like that until she drifted off to sleep. He carried her to their bedroom and gently tucked her in.

He kissed her on the cheek and was gone before he could here her say into the night, "You're still me hero."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's taken so long for me to update this, I was feeling rather uninspired! Now that the season is over I'll try and be better about updating. I'm still bummed they didn't give us more with Scott & Iris investigating. Sigh. I don't know how much longer I'll make this, but hopefully it can somewhat make up for the lack of story they gave us on the show :(

**Author's Note:**

> This is my take on a prompt I was given on tumblr. It'll be multiple chapters, although I'm not sure how many yet. I've never written a story with multiple chapters so we shall see how this goes! Hope you enjoyed this first installment :) Thanks for reading!


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